Ruth Suckow
Ruth Suckow (August 6, 1892 - January 23, 1960) was an American author. Life Youth and education Suckow was born in Hawarden, a small town in Sioux County on the Big Sioux River in northwestern Iowa, where her father was the pastor of the Congregational church. After leaving Hawarden in early 1898, the Suckow family lived in a number of towns in northern Iowa. In 1907, Suckow's father accepted a position at Grinnell College. Suckow graduated from Grinnell High School in 1910, and entered the college that fall. While a student at Grinnell, she became involved in dramatics. Suckow left Grinnell College to study at the Curry School of Expression in Boston from 1913 to 1915. Her novel, The Odyssey of a Nice Girl (1925) reflects that experience. She left Boston to join her mother and sister who were living in Colorado for health reasons, and enrolled at the University of Denver. She earned a B.A. in 1917 and an M.A. in English in 1918. Early literary career While in Denver, Suckow became interested in beekeeping, and spent a summer as an apprentice in a bee yard. After her mother died, Suckow moved to Earlville, a small town in eastern Iowa just west of Dubuque. For 6 years in the 1920s she ran a small apiary at the edge of town near an orchard, and began to write. Suckrow spent her winters in other places, chiefly, New York City's Greenwich Village. In 1921, her earliest published story, "Uprooted," appeared in Midland, edited by John T. Frederick and published at the time in Iowa City. That story later appeared in the short story collection Iowa Interiors (1926). At Frederick's suggestion, she sent some stories to The Smart Set, a magazine edited by H.L. Mencken and George Jean Nathan, who accepted her stories. Suckow had some of her stories published in The American Mercury, also edited by Mencken. Her stories also appeared in such magazines as the Atlantic Monthly, Harper's, and Good Housekeeping. Her biggest commercial success was The Folks (1934), a novel about 3 generations of an Iowa family. Marriage and travels In 1929, Suckow married Ferner Nuhn of Cedar Falls, Iowa. After their marriage, the couple lived in various parts of the United States, from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to rural New England. In the mid-1930s, they spent 2 years in Washington, D.C., where Nuhn worked on various forms of editing and writing for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which was then under the direction of fellow Iowan Henry A. Wallace. Suckrow served on President Franklin Roosevelt's Farm Tenancy Commission during the Depression. From 1937 to 1947, the couple lived in Cedar Falls, where Nuhn managed some family business interests. In 1943, Suckow established contacts with the conscientious objectors to World War II. She had found World War I profoundly disturbing and her relationship with her father had been damaged by his activities supporting the war. In 1944, she traveled to the West Coast to visit 6 Civilian Public Service camps and a mental hospital. She spoke on writing and literature, read manuscripts, and encouraged young men. At the camp in Waldport, Oregon, she met poet William Everson, and continued to correspond with him for several years after the war. Retirement and death In the late 1940s, Suckow and Nuhn left Cedar Falls for health reasons: Suckow had arthritis and Nuhn suffered from hay fever. They moved to Tucson, Arizona, and later to their final home in Claremont, California, where they were active in the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). Little came from Suckow's pen in the 1940s and 1950s. In 1952, Rinehart published Some Others and Myself, 7 short stories and a remarkable spiritual memoir. In 1959, Viking Press brought out The John Wood Case, her last novel, which concerned an embezzlement case in a church. Suckow died in 1960 at her home in Claremont, California, and is interred in Greenwood Cemetery in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Writing Her debut novel, Country People (1924), was followed by a remarkable number of novels published by Alfred A. Knopf. Echoes of Hawarden appear in many of them. In 1934, Farrar & Rinehart published Suckow's longest novel, The Folks, which followed the lives of a small-town Iowa family and was a Literary Guild selection. Suckow's book New Hope (1942) portrays Hawarden during the period from 1890 to 1910 and describes the two-year stay of a young minister in the life of a new town. Suckow is sometimes recalled as a "regionalist," but she did not consider herself such. She said that she wrote about "people, situations, and their meaning." Her fiction was often set in Iowa, but was not parochial in outlook. Today her writing has value for readers who enjoy good storytelling as well as for social historians looking for details about life in the early 20th century, particularly in the small towns of Iowa. Recognition Suckow's childhood home has been preserved at Calliope Village in Hawarden, Iowa. Publications Novels *''Country People''. New York: Knopf, 1924. *''The Odyssey of a Nice Girl''. New York: Knopf, 1925. *''The Bonney Family''. New York: Knopf, 1928. *''Cora''. New York: Knopf, 1929. *''The Kramer Girls''. New York: Knopf, 1930. *''The Folks''. New York: Farrar & Rinehart, 1934; Iowa City, IA: University of Iowa Press, 1992. *''New Hope''. New York: Farrar & Rinehart, 1942; Iowa City, IA: University of Iowa Press, 1998. *''The John Wood Case: A novel''. New York: Viking, 1959. Short fiction *''Iowa Interiors''. New York: Knopf, 1926. *''People and Houses''. London: Cape, 1927. *''Children and Older People''. New York: Knopf, 1931. *''Some Others and Myself: Seven stories and a memoir''. New York: Rinehart, 1952. Collected editions *''A Ruth Suckow Omnibus''. Iowa City, IA: University of Iowa Press, 1988. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Ruth Suckow, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Aug. 5, 2015. Poems by Ruth Suckow #Prayer at Timber-line See also *List of U.S. poets References The only biography is Leedice McAnelly Kissane, Ruth Suckow (1969). See also Suckow's memoir in Some Others and Myself (1952). An obituary appeared in The New York Times January 24, 1960. Fonds *Papers of Ruth Suckow, Special Collections, University of Iowa Libraries, Iowa City. *Guide to the Ruth Suckow Collection at the University of Denver Retrieved 2014-09-26. Notes External links ;Poems *Suckow in Poetry: A magazine of verse, 1912-1922: "Prayer at Timber-line," "Beauty," "The Odd Ones," "Grampa Schuler" ;Books * [http://www.ruthsuckow.org/CountryPeople052509%20CD%20Monday%20June8%20complete.pdf Country People] *Ruth Suckow at Amazon.com *Bibliography: Ruth Suckow's work ;About *Ruth Suckow at Un Site Powys *Ruth Suckow at Find a Grave *Ruth Suckow's Art of Fiction *Ruth Suckow Blog ;Etc. *Ruth Suckow Memorial Society *Ruth Suckow's birthplace, Hawarden, Iowa Category:1892 births Category:1960 deaths Category:People from Hawarden, Iowa Category:20th-century American novelists Category:American women short story writers Category:American women novelists Category:Writers from Iowa Category:20th-century women writers Category:20th-century poets Category:American poets Category:American women writers Category:English-language poets Category:Poets Category:Women poets